NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 381 

flowers were not as sweet as the others. They 8 the bees had torn 
them open with their — and sucked out the hon 
‘For two seasons I have examined large mie of these flowers in 
diferent parts of the village, and found many of them had been torn open. 
Several times I have seen the Baltimore Oriole rapidly going over the 
bushes, giving each fresh flower a prick with the tip of his beak. No 
other birds have been seen doing this; nor have I ever been able to see 
shoney-bee attempt to make a hole at the side of a flower. The calyx- 
tube is too long for the honey-bee, so she contents herself with ee 
after the irae: selecting the injured flowers, and leaving the fresh o 
for birds and humble-bees.— W. J. Brat, Union Springs, N. Y. 
‘ REMARKABLE FLIGHT OF Crows.—An account of a remarkable flight 
of crows I once witnessed op perhaps, be of interest to so 
_ Weaders. The organization of which I was a member, was stationed in 
‘March and April, 1863, at Spee Md., on the Upper Potomac, mid- 
way, or nearly so, between Washington and Harper’s Ferry. One after- 
: April I was posted as sentinel ‘between the guns,” with 
instructions there to walk until six; it was then four. 
Soon after being posted, I saw two or three crows fly over, and soon 
five or six more, followed by nine or ten more; seeing them so increase I. 
: thought to count them, and for half an hour or so was able to do so with 
Some degree of certa inty; after that they formed one continuous stream, 
fying east by south in perfect silence. After that I could only estimate 
their number by calculating how many passed a given point in a minute. 
There was no a apparent diminution in their numbers as the time passed 
On; but the line shifted towards the no orth, as though they were advance- 
“in S reg ” and when it finally _ dusky, they still presented the 
a low black cloud to the northward, their motion visible 
: 
: 
i 
‘ a Some weeks after I s spoke with Dr. Thayer, Surgeon of the 14th N. H. 
: subject, and found his estimate to be—if I remember 
Me *ehtly—ninety-tve thousand. The species was the common C. Ameri- 
“notated E. ENDICOTT. 
ie DEFORMITY IN A SILK Morn.—All entomologists, who have 
= mach to do with Gaede insects, know very well it is not an uncommon 
nce to meet with deformed insects; the déformity is generally in 
ihe wings, This deformity is particularly noticeable in that favorite of 
mmber ts, the Liana moth. Several years ago I gathered quite & 
of cocoons of the Cecropia, in order to get some fine specimens 
One came out, the wings spread nicely, but the left 








deformity occurred this summer. A 
the ‘nie. IT at first thought it had phere them off in escaping from 
a cocoons, 

but it was not so; the moth was perfect in other respects. 
Rochester, N. Y. 

